EKAITZ SAIES

By the time a strategy reaches the middle of an organisation, it is often already in trouble. Not because it is flawed, but because it is abstract. It is expressed in language so polished that it no longer feels human.

And people, it turns out, do not commit to abstractions.

They commit to leaders. And to purpose.

The most effective leaders understand that strategy is not something you announce once and then enforce. It is something you translate, personalise and live, again and again, until it becomes part of how people think about their work.

That translation begins with clarity. A strategy that cannot be explained simply is not yet a strategy; it is a theory. Leaders who succeed break their ambition down into a small number of tangible priorities that people can hold in their heads. They rely less on jargon and more on stories, analogies and concrete examples, tools that help teams understand not just what the strategy is, but why it matters. When employees can explain the strategy to someone outside the organisation, it has finally become real.

Clarity alone, however, does not create commitment. People want to know where they fit. They want to see how their work moves the needle towards something meaningful. The strongest leaders connect strategy to purpose and impact, showing how individual efforts translate into outcomes that affect customers, culture or growth. When work feels consequential, when it is tied to something beyond compliance, motivation follows naturally.

Ownership is the next inflection point. Strategies imposed from above rarely survive first contact with reality. Leaders who create genuine commitment do something counterintuitive: they give up control. They define the destination, but allow teams to shape the route. By assigning clear roles, inviting people to set their own goals and decide how to achieve them, leaders turn execution into a shared responsibility. Accountability still exists, but it is paired with learning. Regular checkpoints focus less on blame and more on problem-solving, reinforcing the idea that progress matters more than perfection.

None of this works without relentless communication. Strategy cannot be seasonal; it must be ever-present. It should appear in meetings, updates and recognition, woven into the everyday language of the organisation. Small wins deserve attention, not because they are dramatic, but because they show the strategy at work. Just as important is listening. Two-way feedback signals respect, and keeps leaders grounded in how the strategy is actually landing.

Ultimately, strategy lives or dies in culture. People watch what leaders do more closely than what they say. When leaders model commitment, take considered risks and recognise courage and creativity aligned with the strategy, they send a powerful signal about what truly matters. Over time, the strategy stops feeling like a document and starts functioning as a shared mindset.

The quiet truth behind most successful transformations is this: people do not follow strategies. They follow leaders who make the strategy clear, make it personal, give them ownership and reinforce it constantly. When that happens, commitment stops being mandated, and starts being real.